Christmas presents likely to be re-gifted by 23pc of Australian households: survey

As wheelie bins across the nation sit full of scrunched up wrapping paper, an assessment of presents takes place and some fall way short of expectations.

A recent survey revealed 23 per cent of Australian households were likely to re-gift unwanted Christmas presents.

The report from ING Direct surveyed 1,015 households and found re-gifting was most popular among Gen Y and families with children.

In WA 17 per cent of households were more likely to embrace re-gifting, compared with 27 per cent of those in NSW.

Putting the call out on Facebook for stories of unwanted gifts passed on, revealed some beauties.

A friend had re-gifted a still-wrapped wedding present and unbeknownst to him, the original giver had sticky taped their card on the inside of the wrapping paper. Embarrassment all around when they both received a thank you card.

Another person received a first aid kit that he had given to a member of the family the year before.

'Women more afraid of conflict'

The study also found four out of five Australians would pretend to love an unwanted gift rather than hurt the giver's feelings, with women a lot more likely than men to fake it.

Men were twice as likely as women to say they did not like a gift and ask if it could be exchanged.

Cultural sociologist at Murdoch University Barbara Evers said the reason women were far more likely to pretend to like dud presents was that they were more afraid of conflict.

"Women are socialised into being more compliant, especially when men give us gifts, we are more inclined to say 'isn't it lovely'; we are still raised in different gender roles," she said.

"I think for men there is less of a social stigma on it - again it comes down to how they are being socialised - it has less social repercussions for them if they say they don't like something.

"They are not as scared of conflict.

"It is a lot harder for women. If you want to make generalisations, and of course there are exceptions, it is harder for women to say 'no I don't like it', because we are still raised to feel more empathy for the person who is giving it.

"We think that a person has put a lot of effort into choosing that present for me and I don't want to hurt their feelings; that's why we say we like it.

"My mum gave me some very sage advice when I first got married; the first couple of times pretend you like the ring or the jewellery he gave you, but after that change it and say 'that was lovely honey, but next time should we go together to buy jewellery?'"